Guests fight paranormal in Madame Tussauds' Ghostbusters Experience

NEW YORK - Madame Tussauds is celebrating the release of the new “Ghostbusters” film next month with a hyper-reality experience that lets guests to the wax museum fight paranormal crime themselves.

It includes wax figures of Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wigg, Kate McKinnon and Leslie Jones’ characters in the supernatural comedy and combines virtual reality, interactive effects and a physical set so fans feel like they are in the movie.

“Hyper-reality is blending the virtual world and the physical world together. So imagine a physical set that’s built and you’ve got all of your VR gear on, you’ve got a proton pack, you’re carrying a proton gun,” explained Eric Fluet, head of marketing and sales of Madame Tussauds, New York.

“But all you’re seeing is the virtual world, but if you see a chair you can touch it and there is actually a chair there.”

Sony Pictures and The Void, an immersive entertainment company, teamed up with Madame Tussauds to create the experience.

The original 1984 film became a cult movie classic and spawned a 1989 sequel.

Ghostbusters: Dimension, the hyper-reality portion of the experience, will open on July 1. The new “Ghostbusters” film will hit theaters on July 14.